> Notes...

Now, this is coming, but I don’t have a laptop, and I am 100% setup to work remote. How are they planning we accomplish this? Would those be idle, or full of meeting days, with little—to none—productivity?

Looming upcoming changes at work. As of 8 January 2024, show up to office on Mondays and Wednesdays. Mandatory. As of August 2024, show up to office three days a week: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Also mandatory. This is going to be the biggest mistake of 2024.

Miscellaneous things. Every day when I wake up I feel thankful by the simple fact I did wake up. I also think of everyone I care about, and wish them well. Yes, that means you.

Even with my deafening tinnitus I try very hard to enjoy a moment of “silence” each day. I do my best to welcome each Monday as if it was a Friday.

Between being sick, then work, then house problems, I have ended up having no inspiration, nor desire, nor words to bring here. “Nothing lasts forever”, I keep repeating to myself. Then again, that’s one of my problems, literally.

🎉 Happy birthday, Claud! It has already been a year, eh?! Cheers to many more to come, and wishing you the very best, always!

“I’m tired, boss. Tired of being on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. I’m tired of never having me a buddy to be with to tell me where we’s going to, coming from, or why. Mostly, I’m tired of people being ugly to each other. I’m tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world… every day. There’s too much of it. It’s like pieces of glass in my head… all the time. Can you understand?”

This week recount, starting Friday 6 October 2023.

• Pickup my friend (but brother in reality) Martin at the airport. He will stay with us until Tuesday, 10 October.
• Took Martin around town all Saturday, watched movies at night.
• Went to Saint Augustine, “the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in what is now the contiguous United States” on Sunday. Watched more movies at night.
• Took Martin even more places Monday morning, went to The H for dinner. Yes, you guessed it, more binge occurred at night.
• Went for breakfast at Chick-fil-A, lunch at Don Julio, and then talked to Martin non-stop till it was time to take him to the airport. We had lots to catch up. Still have much more.
• Missed my friend all night.
• Worked mostly on Ubuntu related tasks the rest of the week, till today.

On January 2021 our Chief Information Officer (CIO) was hired. His last day will be 15 November 2023. He is moving to greener pastures at Texas State University. Go Bobcats!

It is going to be an interesting period this year end… and half of the next.

I never thought, in a million years, that I was going to write this: when it comes to UI between Windows 11 and Windows 95, I prefer the later. You will not believe the memories “My Briefcase”, and “The Microsoft Network” brought to me!

The Guidebook has many more screenshots worth re-seeing.

What this company is doing is truly inspiring. Not only are they helping with the polluting waste problem we increasingly have, but they create beautiful looking things, useful things, out of discarded plastic.

Via @claudrod.

My open case with Canonical has been worked, back and forth, for over a month. It started at severity level 3, and now is at 1. Every time I thought I was seeing the metaphorical “light at the end of the tunnel”, it became dark once more. This is beyond painful.

Once again we are beating records, with September breaking them “for the highest temperature anomaly of any month”. And we are doing next to nothing. Are we really that stupid? I am sure we know the answer by now.

Each day I discover a font that I like. Today is, so far (and I write so far because it is only early morning), “Quattrocento Sans”. So pretty, so crispy, so legible! I am in love!

It is proven, time after time, that it is completely stupid to censor that which you don’t want people to remember, or know. Stupid because the end result is the total opposite of the aim. In this case, especially, because it wasn’t something done on purpose.

Light rain has come to change my afternoon plans. Perhaps it will let me bike? Haven’t done it for the last four days, and I am starting to miss the lack of pain in my legs.

Rainy Sunday, my kind of days: rainy, and Sunday. Wish there was more like these, more often!

It is that time of the week again, in which the front lawn and I spend quality time together. The backyard time will come soon after, otherwise jealousy ensues.

I have been getting worried and depressed for things I can’t control, and it’s not fun. I have got to exile those thoughts somehow. Maybe exercise will do it.

Unpopular opinion: if you need an RSS reader to keep up with everything, you are consuming too much. While I can see the utility of RSS, it doesn’t beat the full web experience.

I had forgotten how much Apple Music improves my working day. And my hobby time in front of the computer. And my driving time. I had forgotten how much I love the service. Now, with Apple One, it is mine once again!

Raspberry Pi just announced version 5 of their board, and I yawned. For about the same amount one can get a micro computer with better specifications, and support for pretty much all operating systems.

I have become such a snob, and I feel bad about it. I can’t stand WordPress sites and, more often than not, I will simply browse away if I see the site is built with it. I want to change but it’s rather clinical. Please, help!

I have been getting “You can’t perform that action at this time.” messages left and right, when trying to star repositories on GitHub. The thing is, they get starred, but the message still shows. Thanks Microsoft! </s>

My currently open L3 support case with Canonical just passed the 20 days mark. I have asked to raise its priority to L2. Let’s see now. 🙄

When I say “Don’t worry about the dishes, I will do them later!” I don’t only say it out of love, or out of duty (doing the dishes is my chore). I say it becase I do them better. You know, like really clean, not a sloppy job. 😂

I started writing a note on my thoughts about “wisdom”, prompted by this submission on Hacker News. It became too long to be a note, so it made it to my blog instead. It is short, just not short enough.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max camera is getting amazing reviews at DXOMARK. Too bad that I will not be getting a new phone this year.

A thought came to me this morning about how would secular people from past history communicated with each other. By secular I mean the common people, not the decent-to-filthy rich kind. Did they scribbled notes? Did they even know how to scribble? Would they keep journals and, if so, what ever happened to them? Were they simply discarded, thrown into the bin? I know I kept journals at various stages of childhood. None of them survived. Nor did the many notes, and letters I wrote, and received.

Come to think, after all, all things in life truly are ephemeral.

The six (the foundation, at least, as there could be more) components of an apology. The bottom line? Very few people know how to genuinely apologise.

1. An expression of regret — this, usually, is the actual “I’m sorry.”
2. An explanation (but, importantly, not a justification).
3. An acknowledgement of responsibility.
4. A declaration of repentance.
5. An offer of repair.
6. A request for forgiveness.

The original article is well worth reading. I found it to be excellent.

Via Kottke.

My first web browser was Mosaic, then Netscape, then Mozilla which became Firefox. Firefox became my default go-to web browser for many years. If Microsoft Windows was my OS platform of choice it would probably still be. Ever since I completely, and absolutely, moved to macOS/iOS/iPadOS, the choice has been Safari. I had had no reason to look elsewhere.

This blog post is everlasting. Since 2018, when it was written, things have gotten worse. I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel anytime soon.

We put virtual machines inside Linux, and then we put Docker inside virtual machines, simply because nobody was able to clean up the mess that most programs, languages and their environment produce. We cover shit with blankets just not to deal with it. “Single binary” is still a HUGE selling point for Go, for example. No mess == success.

Sound on and up, please. I really liked this version of “Ozymandias”. The text is the same, it wouldn’t be “Ozymandias” otherwise. It is the spoken voice, the beat, the emphasis and cadence behind it, that drives it.

Incidentally, “Breaking Bad” (★★★★★) is really good. If you haven’t watched it yet, I strongly recommend you do.

Now I know how my mum felt seeing her beloved actors and actresses become old, and dropping off big screens. It is a mix of melancholy, and worry.

The whole “VIP” system is discriminatory. I provide priority service to them, because it’s policy, but don’t agree with it. Priority should be assigned based on certain parameters, I agree, but not on someone’s pay scale, or “bourgeoisie” status.

I feel bad when I come to mum’s and she offers me a beer. I buy beer for her, and by drinking one or two, it makes me feel guilty. In such case, if I gave her a 24 bottles case I, indeed, only gave her 23, or 22.

Watched both “Dune” movies last night. The one from 1984 (★★★½), because it is leaving Netflix, and the one from 2021 (★★★★). I can’t wait for part 2 (second movie), scheduled to be released sometime on 2024.

“Android works to keep you safe and protect your privacy when you use apps.” That, from Google’s Android Help made me chuckle. When I think of Android many things come to mind, but “keep you safe”, and “protect your privacy”. Ha!

I am not a prude; I am far from it. Yet, I found Foundation’s amorous relationship scenes developing too early, too fast, and too often. Especially involving someone who is supposed to come from a planet with a repressive religious society. I mean, really?

If this isn’t toned down a little it will lose a star, or will not gain one. I mustn’t write in haste, perhaps, as I am only on the second episode.

Watched the first episode of Foundation (★★★★½) last night, on Apple TV+, and regardless the public reviews that has gotten I liked it very, very much. It gets almost five stars from me so far. If that changes, I will come, and amend.

I also re-watched Interstellar (★★★½) which I have always found too slow, and not enough “science fictiony”, for my liking. But kid wanted to watch it, and I am a good buddy, so… yeah.

My cravings for Jajangmyeon were fulfilled at Korea House in Colonial. That I know of, that’s the only restaurant in the surrounding area the serves them. I am good for a week, or two. 😂

Dear lord, it’s such a pleasure to the eyes when I come across websites using Open Sans fonts! So easy to read, such a genuine pleasant experience.

Small pet peeve. People sending emails from their mobile devices, and having a signature that reads, more or less, “Sent from phone, please excuse typos and brevity”. If you are going to send, or reply to, an email, do it right. A mobile device isn’t an excuse for not paying a little bit of attention to what you are doing.

This, from the Punkist, summarises how we—humankind—are no different at all, in the various stages of what’s considered, more or less, modern times. I slightly formatted it for legibility.

We are definitely different from the bad people in history.

The immoral fools tricked by Hitler into saluting the iron cross and casting their votes in favour of genocide, the spiritually corrupt slave traders of the colonies in Africa, the Europeans pillaging and raping (culturally and literally) the indigenous people of the “new worlds” of America, Australia, etc; the brilliant geniuses talked into developing the atom bomb, the monsters who then dropped those bombs over Japan in the name of peace.

We are definitely different from them.

The most efficient systematic slaughter of sentient beings the planet has ever seen, the complete indifference to the ecocide required for our day-to-day lives, the endless belief in infinite growth on a finite planet, the quantification of all that is sacred into mere resources and business opportunities, the utter carelessness toward the world our children will inherit. All this we manage to stand for in the name of progress and humankind’s superiority over all others.

No, we are definitely different.

We are worse.

Dieter Rams’ good design principles are so on-point, so beautiful, so simple, so everlasting. According to Rams, good design:

1. Is innovative: Design always develops in tandem with improving technology, and can never be an end in itself.
2. Makes a product useful: Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could detract from it.
3. Is aesthetic: Only well-executed objects can be beautiful.
4. Makes a product understandable: It can make the product clearly express its function by making use of the user’s intuition.
5. Is unobtrusive: Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools; they are neither decorative objects nor works of art.
6. Is honest: It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.
7. Is long-lasting: Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years.
8. Is thorough down to the last detail: Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.
9. Is environmentally friendly: Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment.
10. Is as little design as possible: Less, but better. Simple as possible but not simpler.

How many of those Apple follows? It isn’t a trick question, think about it.

Wow, Autumn has given us a nice surprise on its first day! This morning we woke up with 19°C, which is a drastic change from previous days. I know that later today is going to be hot, but it was great biking this morning, and not breaking a sweat.

Sponsoring a child is investing in humankind’s future. It can mean saving a child from abuse, neglect, or worse. For less than a tank of petrol per month one can make a big difference in a child’s life!

Children growing up in poverty begin life with acute disadvantage and face uncertain futures. Your monthly gift of $39 will give your sponsored child life-changing interventions, such as access to medical care, educational support, life skills and job training before graduation.

Please consider sponsoring a child today through Children International, a secular nonprofit.

Seven hours from now will get us to the beginning of Autumn. In Florida that doesn’t mean much. Hopefully, hopefully, temperatures will tone down a degree, or two, if we are lucky. One can only wish, and hope, right? Happy Autumnal Equinox!

The amount of people in this city driving while using their phones is simply staggering. Went out to grab some food to bring home, and almost got hit three times. Driving defensively these days isn’t a fad, it is a must.

Apple new devices (iPhones 15, and Watches 9) worldwide arrival news announcement makes me happy. Beautiful people from around the world, smiles, and feelings of overall happiness make me happy.

If this weren’t enough, then you will be surprised—or maybe not—to read about Clarence’s latest escapades and misdeeds.

Thomas has attended at least two Koch donor summits, putting him in the extraordinary position of having helped a political network that has brought multiple cases before the Supreme Court.

Found myself questioning, smiling, chuckling, and nodding in agreement to Joshua’s list of 100 opinions that he holds.

As a sign that I wasn’t kidding when I said I would move from 1Password to iOS Passwords, I have now done so. This weekend I will dedicate some time, and clean my list, making sure all important stuff works and, once that’s achived, I will get rid of 1Password, and cancel my subscription.

Poor Veronique had an accident, and she will have to go for surgery. Though having to go through this is something no one wants, I am glad it wasn’t something worse.

Hang in there, Vero! Things will go well, and you will overcome ❤️! Really sorry for this temporary unpleasantness.

I have added so many little things to “Notes” over time, that I am feeling a bit guilty. Can it be, still, considered minimalistic? I hope so!

Last month’s utility (water) bill was over $200. It was $222.13, to be exact. It went up because rains had stopped, and we had to turn on the schedule for the sprinklers.

If it continues this way the decision will be whether the lawn survives, or we do. We will have to make a choice then. Poor lawn, we barely knew you!

So, everything “accomplished” since 8 September 2023 until today, 21 September 2023, was scratched. We are back to square one now. Lovely.

“Your NFT are actually—finally—totally worthless”, RollingStone. Don’t you say! Just one more to add to the Human Stupidity museum, right?

Just as I am in love with the Japanese woodblock prints, I also love the simplicity and beauty of Japanese (and Chinese, and Korean) Sumi-e (ink wash painting).

This one above is a relatively big mural. If you look at a bigger, fuller, version (really big image!) you will see the strokes, made with a—probably huge—straw brush.

“What’s going on with the WiFi? I can’t connect the iPad to it.” — “Nothing that I know off. Do you think the boy would be so happy playing a video game with friends, if there was a problem?” — “It isn’t working!” A minute later, “never mind”.

If at first you don’t succeed, you mustn’t quit! LOL.

Daylight “Savings” Time sucks, and it should be abolished. For the last five days I have noticed my mornings getting darker, to the point of having to turn on the light to start the working day. It hasn’t been an easy in at all but, I would say, rather dramatic. Then early November, bam! Back one hour. Ugh!

Just LEAVE THE CLOCK ALONE!

Thank you, George, for spoiling a few shows and movies for me. This is something I hadn’t correlated, but now cannot miss. Ha!

Film director Rian Johnson has lifted the lid on a secret in the world of product placement – Apple will not allow its kit to be used by a villainous character on screen.

“Apple, they let you use iPhones in movies, but – and this is very pivotal – if you’re ever watching a mystery movie, bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera,” Johnson, whose credits include Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Looper and Knives Out, revealed in a video recorded for Vanity Fair.

The old… err more mature I get, the less interest I have for social media. I kid you not. Kim, on the other hand… she consumes (doesn’t create) it all the time.

In my experience, the easiest and most difficult people to work with are those on a short countdown to retirement. Easiest because they become really agreeable, or disagreeable—but they don’t masquerade it. Difficult because they become almost impossible to get a hold of—they stop giving a duck about things.

It is past 22:00, and I am still awake. For reasons I can’t explain, I don’t feel sleepy at all—which is odd for a weekday. I am going to pay for this tomorrow, I am sure.

Meanwhile I have been following links up and down at wonger.dev, especially these. Lots of interesting stuff there!

Kid and I watched “Jujutsu Kaisen” (★★★★), the series (and the movie), and this song from the series’ last episode stuck.

Catchy, ain’t it? If you haven’t watched the series, even if you are not into manga, I highly recommend it!

I was having a weird issue in which blue heart next to the timestamp would appear off place, and quickly jump into place on page load/refresh. Took the problem over IRC (Libera.Chat) #css channel and, sure enough, hassoon and DPA found the issue, and provided a solution, in no time.

Suffice it to say, very, very grateful.

I have decided to move from 1Password (for which I pay a yearly subscription) to iOS native Passwords before the year is over. The ability to share passwords with family tilted me over. I will not wait for Passwords to become an app of its own—though I am sure that’s coming—because I don’t think that should hold me back now.

I might be getting old and, as such, be “old school” now, but a company like Unity shouldn’t be apologising on X. They have a company’s website, they should put their apology there.

Update: 15:02

Ah, crap, as soon as I hit send I found their blog with an “Editor’s note (Sept. 17, 2023)”, that is a verbatim of what they posted on X.

We have heard you. We apologize for the confusion and angst the runtime fee policy we announced on Tuesday caused. We are listening, talking to our team members, community, customers, and partners, and will be making changes to the policy. We will share an update in a couple of days. Thank you for your honest and critical feedback.

I don’t know why news outlets did not link there instead of referring to the X “xeet” (how do they call those things these days?).

Update: 22/09

Another update, this time from Marc Whitten, lead of Unity Create:

I want to start with this: I am sorry.

And he goes on, yet, it seems to me it’s too little, too late. I think this was a costly mistake for Unity. Talk about a backfire!

Moscow said last year it planned to spend almost $30 billion by 2035 on developing the northern sea route, which has become more viable as climate change has reduced sea ice in the Arctic.

Emphasis mine. Russia is benefiting from global warming, and now more pollution is on its way. Well, (s)that’s great(/s)!

Sending the true spam to “Junk Email” at work has gotten so bad, that it is, precisely, “Junk Email” the first folder I check each morning, and the last at the end of the day. Granted, it is a relatively quick glimpse, but nevertheless a task that most be done. False positives are aplenty.

It is truly incredible that I can find my iPhone with ease, yet the United States military can’t find an F-35 (yes, that very expensive plane), and it’s asking for help. I guess it is truly stealth, after all. 😂

The mishaps of X triggered the spawn of new services like Threads, Bluesky. It also exacerbated the adoption of the Fediverse (often simply called Mastodon). Now there is Pebble, but this one has a problem of it’s own. To sign up you need to connect with X/Twitter, “to confirm you’re a good fit for Pebble”. Oh dear god!

So many iOS apps debuting their iOS 17 versions today! I find it amazing how rich, and responsive, the iOS community is—not sure community is the right term, but I hope you get the idea. Need I to point out that, at the time I am writing this, iOS 17 is not out yet.

Today’s News Minimalist email reads, and I am not paraphrasing:

Today ChatGPT read 1003 top news stories. After removing previously covered events, there are 2 articles with a significance score over 7.

That is, according to ChatGPT, there are only two significant news today. We are beating yesterday, thought. Yesterday there were none.

Kim loves to buy plants, or she will gladly take them from people giving them away for various reasons. That’s the extent of her “green thumb”. Plants commonly perish under her “care”. She tries, though, but often is not to be. It’s rather sad.

Then she makes me feel guilty when she asks, “Have you watered my plants?” Like, really?! 😅

While in the topic of disliking things, but this time technology themed, I can’t stand PHP. That is an acquired dislike, as I used to use it until 2011 (WordPress). That year I moved to Jekyll and later on, in 2017, to Hugo which I still use today.

I have a strong dislike for Crocs—the plastic shoes, that is. I believe it is based solely on their shape/form. Do that makes me a bad person?

This weekend I mowed the backyard twice, yesterday and today. Between biking, and mowing, I surpased 10,000 steps each day. That equates to over 8 kilometres per day. I am tired, but feel good. Kind of weird, but true.

With so many disasters around the globe, so many conflicts, every little bit helps to bring sustainment to those in need. Anyone can do that, through Red Cross, for as little as $10.

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission.

Please, considering donating to the Red Cross, and/or the International Committee of the Red Cross.

I am totally in love with Japanese woodblock prints. If it weren’t because my taste and Kim’s collide, I would have them framed around the house, and I would collect them.